Dr. Atiar Rahman
I am happy that the financial sector is taking the lead in achieving the nation’s vision. Most of the banking services are now provided through online IT infrastructures. Online banking service, mobile banking service, online CIB, Automated Clearing House, Electronic Fund Transfer, National Payment Switch etc have brought significant changes in our daily life and brought banking services to the doorstep of general people of the country.Bangladesh bank itself has also introduced IT based services to the government and banks through its large scale automation initiatives. Sale, encashment of government securities like Sanchaypatra, wage earners bond, Treasury bill, bond, payment of salary of the govt officials are now fully automated, providing immense benefit to the stakeholders. However, there are many miles to go yet.
We have the dream of having a fully automated financial sector bringing all the banking services to the people irrespective of their location and social status. We have already seen that financial inclusion can only be achieved to our desired level through introduction of Information Technology. The growth of mobile banking services has shown us that this is indeed possible. The world class financial services through bank-led provider like bKash have already attracted global attention.
We are in the process of completing the implementation of the National Payment Switch which will create a nationwide common platform for electronic fund transfer and settlement system in the country. Such platform will definitely enhance the pace of the e-commerce in the country. I expect the payment gateways interfaced with the national payment switch will make the electronic fund transfer easily possible and hence will lead to the increase of e-transactions.
The banking sector has already introduced their e-services to the general people which you all can see in the country now. Online payments of utility bills, online ticketing, countrywide large ATM network etc are now well appreciated by the general people. I hope banks and financial institutions will continue their effort to bring more product based on their IT platform.
Bangladesh Bank will continue to provide its regulatory support both to encourage the IT sector to contribute more in the national economy and to encourage & provide better financial services to the nation. Bangladesh has already taken IT sector friendly regulatory policy framework to ensure the balanced sustainable growth in the sector. We have formulated liberal export procedure for software and IT service providers. The government has also put emphasis to develop this sector by declaring it as a thrust sector of the economy. Government provides several incentives like tax holidays, soft capital through EEF etc for the development of the sector. Bangladesh provides complementary regulatory support to make these services easily accessible and more efficiently.
I am happy to see that the sector has already started to pick up and registered an impressive 40% growth in the country. I am confident that Information Technology will become another major export earning sector in near future. Besides the export market, we have also a huge domestic market for this sector. Catering the needs of these external and internal market will also create a huge employment opportunity for the literate young population of the country. Employment of such literate population along with the garment sector employing relatively less educated portion of the population can create a significant synergistic impact on our national economy and can bring desirable changes in the country.
I am indeed highly pleased to see BRAC Bank has come forward to establish a separate subsidiary called biTS to provide multiple IT solutions for the banks, non-bank financial institutions, educational institutions, MFIs, NGOs and FMCGs.
(Ectracted from an address made at the launch of BRAC IT Services (biTS) at a Gulshan Hotel on Thursday)
